Can Avoiding Conflict Actually Hurt Your Relationship?

When it comes to dealing with conflict in marriage, the question is not if you will have conflict but when you will have conflict.

Conflict is a necessary part of even healthy marriages because no two people will ever agree on everything.

However, there are a number of married couples who misinterpret the following scripture and make the colossal mistake of avoiding conflict at all cost…and it ends up costing them their marriage.

Proverbs 20:3- Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling.

This scripture does not mean that you should avoid conflict in your marriage. In fact, it needs it for both partners to have balance and get their individual needs met. What is does warn against is fighting, quarreling and destroying one another with strife.

So, let’s talk about avoiding conflict with an example.

I want your input on this far too common marital scenario:

A couple has been married for seven years with two children (ages 2 and 5). The first three years of their marriage were the best. They were able to purchase a new home, secure or maintain employment, go on frequent dates, have fun and keep things spicy and sexy at home.

However, year three presented some problems after their first child was born because the wife’s role in the marriage changed dramatically. Before kids, she would cook 4 nights a week (leftovers, going out to eat, husband cooking one night a week, would take care of the remaining meals).

She would clean, work a full-time job and pursue her hobbies in her free time (work out, spend time with friends, watch Netflix/TV, shop, and maybe work on a side business).

After having kids, however, she found herself having little to no time to pursue her hobbies. Meanwhile, her husband somehow managed to keep his personal hobbies (watching sports, golf, work out, sleep whenever he was tired lol). He would occasionally help with the children but most of the responsibility somehow fell on her.

Now, she cooks, cleans, parents, works full-time including her side hustle, gives the kids baths, helps with homework, prepares their lunches, drops the kids off at school/daycare, takes them to the doctor, etc.

It’s year 7 now, and the wife feels as if she has completely lost herself. She loves her children dearly but misses having “me time”, fun times with her friends, and feeling sexy again as a wife.

They have not taken a couples only vacation since the kids were born, infrequently date and too much of their conversation is around household business (bills, work, kids’ schedule, etc.).

She is extremely unhappy, bored and overwhelmed with her day-to-day life but loves being a wife and mother.

However, she is conflicted about what to do.

A) Should she bring up her unhappiness to her husband so that she can get a break?

If she does, it may work! Can you imagine going shopping without kids?

However, what if her husband resists and it leads to a conflict? She tried saying something earlier and her husband shut her down quickly because his mother raised four kids alone after his father left and “never complained”.

Or

B) Should she suck it up, embrace giving up personal needs as a necessary evil of marriage and motherhood, and avoid conflict with her husband.

What would you do?

I am sure this will create spirited debate but if you are asking a professional, psychologist for twenty years, I would advise the wife to pick OPTION A…even though it will lead to conflict.

Why?

Quite simply, option B is unsustainable. Both parties in a marriage need “me time” or oxygen to survive. Psalm 25:5 refers to “my cup runneth over” which can be applied to marriage. If the mom is the cup, and her cup is empty, how can she realistically be expected to pour into her husband, children and work without neglecting herself?

Right, she can’t.

From experience working with couples for over twenty years, the wife will eventually become overwhelmed, irritable, depressed and unhappy in the marriage. She has neglected her needs for so long that it has become a way of life; one that robs her of joy and makes her long for the good times when she used to be able to have fun.

Some wives wait to speak up and tend to have a high divorce rate when the kids leave for college. Other wives lose their health, put on weight (or lose too much), and let themselves go. This is a problem because the husband often complains about her letting go of herself or even pursues outside attention because his wife is “too busy” for him.

Another set of women, eventually snap and blindside their husbands with “the talk” where they reveal how unhappy they have been for years and want separation or divorce.

What should she have done if you ask me:

1) Talk about marital and parenting expectations up front

2) Engage in weekly to monthly meetings to assess the “State of the Marriage” so that a

bad pattern of marriage does not become a lifestyle

3) Initiate conflict in a loving way to discuss necessary changes that will allow both

husband and wife to have a fulfilling life.

Sounds good right?

A lot of professionals will often tell you what to do but neglect training you HOW to do it.

What exactly do you say? What if he won’t listen? What if you have mom guilt about having fun away from the kids? I get it! That’s why I want to show you HOW TO RESOLVE CONFLICT IN YOUR MARRIAGE.

On the flip side, arguing too much can literally kill your marriage too. I want to help prevent that from happening for you.

There are many solutions for successfully resolving marital conflict. I cover this in a FREE monthly, online training specifically geared towards Christian marriages.